How to Set up Your Virtual Lesson at Home

We are so excited that you are starting your music journey with us!

To make your first online music lesson experience as smooth and easy as possible, here are some suggestions on how to prepare and set up your space for your very first virtual class.

Getting Started.

The first step is to pick a room or space in your home that is quiet and free from distractions, has good lighting, and can house your instrument. In order to stream the lesson, every student will need a computer or a mobile device - that can be a laptop, tablet, or a smartphone. For most online music lessons, having a tablet or a laptop is a better choice, since the bigger screen allows the student to more easily see everything their teacher is demonstrating. However, for online voice lessons in particular, having an additional device, such as a smartphone, is very helpful for playing backing tracks while singing.

The Set-up

As soon as you have your lesson space and device ready to go, it’s time to figure out how to position your laptop, tablet or smartphone, so that the student can easily see their teacher, and the teacher can easily observe and guide their student. For most instruments, such as violin, cello, flute, etc., having the device on a table or stand in front of the student is sufficient, so long as the student can easily see what’s going on on the screen. Having an adjustable table or stand is even more helpful, since different instruments can require different heights. For example, a cellist plays while sitting down, so having the laptop or tablet on a lower surface would work better for them, while a higher surface would work better for someone playing the violin, who is mostly playing while standing up. For online piano lessons, the laptop or tablet works best when it is set up on either the left or the right side of the piano student. The device needs to be at a height that’s a little bit above the keyboard, so the entire keyboard is visible to the teacher, as well as the student’s hands and feet. We will add some links at the end of the blogpost for adjustable stands and tripods that make this kind of set-up a breeze!

Once your device is set up and adjusted, some other helpful things to have nearby are a pencil and eraser, sheet music (if already assigned to you by your teacher), and a music stand - very useful for all instruments, except for the piano.

Sonatico

In order to ensure that every student’s online music lesson experience is professional and seamless, our online music school utilizes a revolutionary, secure, low-latency video platform called Sonatico, which was specifically created for music education and offers superior audio and video quality. Once you book your first online lesson with us, you will receive a confirmation email with a link to create your very own, free Sonatico student account. The entire process is straightforward and takes less than a minute to complete. Once you are logged in to your Sonatico account, you will see your teacher’s name - just click on it to gain access to your lesson room and begin the learning process!

Along with providing unparalleled sound and video quality for online music instruction, Sonatico lesson rooms also contain a myriad of tools and special features to make every session engaging and fun. These tools are easy to access and include a metronome, piano keyboard, tuner, screen-sharing and live annotation capabilities for sheet music, a midi player for backing tracks, as well as an extensive, interactive library of musical terms, symbols and rhythmic notations. Sonatico also allows students to record their lessons - an invaluable tool learners can use to ensure that all weekly practice sessions are as productive and enjoyable as possible. Students never have to worry about forgetting what or how their teacher demonstrated and explained a new technical or musical concept and can even gain new understanding from watching themselves gradually master new skills.

We can’t wait for you to experience all of the amazing instruction our unique online school and exceptional teachers have to offer. If you have any questions or would like assistance with booking or preparing for a lesson or class, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at info@krescendomusicacademy.com. Wishing you a joyful and exciting musical journey ahead!